1. Make your goals feelings instead of actions, author Danielle LaPorte suggests in The Desire Map. You'll be amazed how different your choices are when instead of vowing to take a trip, you decide to feel adventurous; instead of gunning to buy a house, you seek a place where you can truly feel at home.

2. Look up an '80s-era video, like Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up." Watch it till the super-serious expressions and cheeseball dance moves make you giggle. (Won't take long.)

3. Pick out one book on your shelves that you've always wanted to read but haven't yet. Then turn to page one—the dishes can wait.

4. Write down what you eat today (yes, that includes "nibbles" and "slivers") and consider it the easiest diet ever. In one study, women who kept food journals consistently lost about six pounds more than those who did not.

6. Take a few stress-relieving breaths. Inhale for a count of five, then exhale for a count of five, all through the nose. Nasal breathing stimulates your vagus nerve, which helps slow your heart rate.

7. Enjoy a glass of pinot noir—it's the wine with the highest levels of resveratrol (the stuff that's thought to keep your heart in good shape), according to a Cornell University study.

8. Make one doctor's appointment you've been avoiding. Healthier already!

9. Leave $1 where someone is bound to find it. Spend the day imagining their excitement when they do.

10. If you've ever felt like you missed something in college, sign up for a free MOOC (massive open online course), like Intro to Psychology or Songwriting, taught by professors at major universities. Find a list at coursera.com.

11. "[People think progress is] defined by constant forward motion…. Not true: Getting to the top of Mount Everest, for example, generally requires a great deal of time climbing backward—away from the summit." —Elite climber Alison Levine, author of On the Edge

12. Plan dinner with friends; it's been too long since you saw them. But make it a potluck: the less stress, the better.

13. What would you tell your 12-year-old self to reassure her that it's all going to be okay? Tell it to yourself now.

14. The next time you sit down for a TV marathon, nosh on some low-fat popcorn sprinkled with a tablespoon of grated cheese. It's nutritionist-approved, because it counts as a whole grain.

15. Get your body into a stress-busting position, says yoga instructor Jill Miller. Fold a blanket and place it on the floor next to a wall. Lie down with your butt and lower back on the blanket, then rest your legs vertically against the wall. Chill out here for a few minutes.

16. Sign up for some e-joy at dailyom.com. Every weekday, the site will send you a (free) inspirational thought. One we love: "The longer you listen to and believe your true inner voice, the stronger it will become."

17. Beat bloat with a little at-home acupressure: Measure about a hand's width below your knee, then press your thumb into the space just to the outside of your shin, says Sara Calabro, founder of AcuTake. For best results, do this as often as you remember to.

18. Type "Photos from [insert year you loved here]" into Facebook's Graph Search and enjoy the burst of happy nostalgia.

19. "A ship in port is safe, but that is not what ships are for. Sail out to sea and do new things." —Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, the U.S. Navy's oldest active-duty officer at the time of her retirement and one of the world's first computer programmers

20. Smile at your neighbors. One study calculated that just chatting with one of them regularly gives the same bounce to your well-being as getting a $60,000 raise.

21. Google "Google doodles" to see clever illustrations honoring quirky holidays and people. (Claude Debussy's 151st birthday has a mesmerizing animation set to "Clair de Lune.")

22. Take a whiff of EVOO before you cook with it. Simply smelling olive oil may help you lose weight, according to a study from the German Research Center for Food Chemistry. The scent might work as an appetite suppressant because even the aroma of fat is rewarding for your brain.

23. Call someone you were just going to text.

24. Before you fall asleep tonight: sex! People who have sex once or twice a week have stronger immune systems than those who have a romp less than once a week, says a study at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania.

25. Add something you've already done to your to-do list. Cross it off. Now that you've built some momentum, do the next thing on your list.

26. "There are two pillars of happiness…. One is love. The other is finding a way of coping with life that does not push love away." —Harvard psychiatrist George E. Vaillant, M.D., who tracked the outlook of 268 college students

27. Put $1 in a piggy bank every time you complete a workout. In a month, use your hard-earned savings to treat yourself.